Finally got her on her wheels!

I thank (blame) 4xFool for the photos of his gorgeous red '60 for making me work so furiously on this thing.

 

OK, I have another tub-fit question. I spent a lot of time fitting the tub to the frame, measuring side to side/front to back and making sure it was square and even. Now I am fitting the front clip and in order to make everything fit appropriately, it appears the tub needs to shift to the right about a quarter to half inch. This should make the front clip fit correctly but will make the tub off center on the frame -- probably not a noticeable amount but it will be off center nonetheless.

In order to make the hood fit, I have to shift the grill off center more than the bolt/hole will allow.

Is this normal?

 

I'm getting closer without shifting the body. I think the hood and fenders may have varied from temperature changes, sand blasting, and welding (both fenders needed some welding for stress cracks.) I put a ratchet strap around the hood and tightened it to bend it back into shape. The biggest problem is the grill is not sitting straight and the fenders are not strong enough to force it back into shape (the driver's side fender is sitting lower than the right side.)

In retrospect, I should have removed the whole front clip as a unit rather than separating the fenders from the grill.

Working alone makes it tougher; I'll have to round up some friends to help.

 

Maybe what you see is that famous "JEEP LEAN". I had to put a spacer between the right spring and axle (1/2") and leveled it up. Search jeep lean and you will find lots of guys have it or had it.

 

That is a distinct possibility because I think my frame is twisted. I don't think it was ever damaged or anything, but the two frame rails are not level with each other. This was apparent when the bare frame was sitting on saw horses and it wobbled from corner to corner. At the time, I thought this was the unevenness of my garage floor (it slopes toward a center drain) but now I'm wondering if it really was the frame.

When I set the body onto it, the passenger side front body mount was a good inch or more away from the body until I bolted it down. That could be a big variable in trying to get all this to line up properly.

 

I just started to search and google and jeep lean use to be usual with jeep cj...one problem seem to come in fact lot of people ride their jeep alone so all the weight use to be on driver side. I'am happy to read this tread because i was thinking i was having a problem with my frame but after reading it seem to be somehting usual...

 

Finally finished installing the reproduction wiring harness. I couldn't find an original horn (well, I couldn't find an inexpensive one that worked) but I found this one at Advance Auto Parts for $15. It looks pretty close except it doesn't have the grill on the front. Instead, it has a red ring around the front, which magically matches the color of the paint. Even though it isn't original, it looks cool. And it sounds like an original...only louder.

One mistake I made was putting the voltage regulator up too high. I realized my mistake after I drilled the holes. Oh well, only a purist would ever notice.

 

That looks immaculate! Very well done! Give yourself a pat on the back! I have an original ECJ5 horn that works. Only thing wrong with it is that is needs a tang soldered on. One of them is broken off. I'll PM you.

 

Thanks, Nate. I PM'd you about the horn. I feel like I am finally making progress again even though I just dismantled everything (for the last time, I hope) to get ready for paint. I also created the faux battery box cover on the cowl, I'll post pictures of that later.

 

very, very nice.

 

Now for the body work, the part I hate the most. Lots of hammer/dolly and body filler to smooth out the sides and lots of dust. I really hate having a garage integral to the house, my wife will stab me in the throat if I don't finish this soon. The Repli-Tub was far from perfect (even by original Jeep standards) so it is taking some time to get the sides smoothed out and perfectly straight.

I decided to attempt a faux battery box cover on the cowl to keep more originality, the Repli-Tub didn't have one like the original tub did. I bought one from a forum member, cut it out, welded on some studs to the bottom, and bolted it in place. It doesn't sit as high off the cowl as the original but at least it's there so I doubt anyone will notice. I'll caulk around the edges before paint.

 

that is gonna be way prettier than brand new.

 

very nice.

 

Getting ready to make the tub red, wish me luck. I'll post pictures later.

 

OK, if I get a run in the base coat, can I just sand that part flat again and re-spray that one area? Or do I have to sand down the entire tub and re-spray?

 

I spent the whole day but I finally got it based and cleared. I messed up the base coat in a few places but was able to wet sand those areas down and re-spray without too much hassle. The clear coat came out mostly OK but I do have a couple of small runs I need to wet sand out. Actually, I'll just go ahead and wet sand the entire thing and buff.



Here's the base coat...







Here's the clear coat







And here's the final product

 

I'm not sure why my camera makes it look orange, it is really President Red. But I kind of like the orange in the pictures.

 

I really like the black and red combo. Looks great!